Trollsang

Kerstin Blodig – Trollsang

“A voice as clear as Norwegian fjord water coupled with a virtuoso groovy guitar…”

Trollsang (also Galder or old Norse Galdr) is a song with magical power.

The verb „gale“ in old Norse meant to sing in a high-pitched voice. According to the Vikings, if you did this, you had been exposed to troll songs. You can still find the word „gal“ – meaning crazy – in the Scandinavian languages today.

The Norse god, Odin, had eighteen different troll songs or magic spells for all occasions – one to calm the raging waves, one to soothe hate, another one to inspire love and passion in a female heart …

The CD Trollsang is a collection of songs and tunes dealing not only with the subterranean people, but also with being spellbound – not only by trolls, but also by the fascination of old folk tales, ancient beliefs, and the very beauty of music itself – about magical moments when old meets new.

Trollsang is not meant to be a purist traditional folk album. Kerstin`s love of Norwegian traditional music and her passion for groovy modern guitar music (as with her “guitar heroines and heroes” Vicki Genfan, Don Ross and Michael Hedges) let her successfully combine these two different elements to create an exciting, innovative blend of old and new. Her expressive, sensual vocals mix with her virtuoso guitar playing or her groovy bodhràn technique.

The arrangements on the album are rather minimalistic. Most of the songs and tunes are live reproduceable in Kerstin`s solo performances. On four ensemble pieces out of twelve tracks, Kerstin is accompanied by her marvellous colleagues such as Ian Melrose on whistles and electric guitar, Kristine Heebøll on fiddle, Urs Fuchs on percussion and Peter Jakk on bass.

A special acoustic guitar and vocal album presented in exquisite audiophile quality by sound engineer Jörg Surrey. An intense musical experience!

She is involved in a wide variety of different projects, ranging from studio work and theatre music productions to the Celtic groups Talking Water, Touchwood and Norland Wind (with Pádraig and Noel Duggan from the group Clannad).

She cultivates her Norwegian roots in her solo performances, her Scandinavian world-music project Valivann and in the duo Kelpie with Scottish guitarist Ian Melrose. Her solo-CD Valivann won the renowned German Critics Prize (May 2002) in the field of world-music/ folk and has been released in North America by the world-music label Alula Records.

”Blodig impressed us with one of the most expressive voices I`ve ever heard.”